Aarne Emil Kauhanen (29 November 1909 – 11 October 1949) was a Finnish officer of the Central Detective Police (EK) and its successor, the

State Police State police, provincial police or regional police are a type of sub-national territorial police force found in nations organized as federations, typically in North America, South Asia, and Oceania. These forces typically have jurisdiction o ...

(ValPo), with special responsibility for aliens in the 1930s and 1940s.Norssit 1867–1992 : Suomalaisen Normaalilyseen, Helsingin Normaalilyseon, Helsingin I Normaalikoulun ja sen alkuvaiheiden matrikkeli, s. 214. Helsinki: Vanhat Norssit ry.; Helsingin I Normaalikoulu, 1992. ISBN 952-90363-5-3
Teoksen verkkoversio
(PDF). During the

Continuation War The Continuation War, also known as the Second Soviet–Finnish War, was a conflict fought by Finland and Nazi Germany against the Soviet Union during World War II. It began with a Finnish declaration of war on 25 June 1941 and ended on 19 ...

, Kauhanen acted as a liaison between the Finnish and

Nazi German Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a totalitarian dictat ...

police authorities and was involved in the recruitment of the Finnish SS Battalion. He also beat and tortured Jewish refugees during interrogations. After the war, Kauhanen escaped to

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...

, where he died in unclear circumstances in 1949. According to a memoir, one of his victims recognized and later shot him.

Life

Early years

Aarne Kauhanen's parents were the merchants Antti Kauhanen and Alma Sundsten. Kauhanen attended seven classes at the Finnish Normal Lyceum in Helsinki, and continued at the Finnish Business School, where he received his diploma in 1928. Kauhanen initially worked as an office clerk in Helsinki until he became an EK clerk in 1933. Kauhanen, known by the code name “Kuha”, was one of ValPo's most anti-Jewish employees.

Wartime

During the Winter War, he was transferred to supervise foreign volunteers stationed in Ostrobothnia.Palautetaan Venezuelasta Suomeen sotarikollisena?. Helsingin Sanomat, 17.5.1947, s. 5. HS Aikakone (vain tilaajille) Viitattu 18.10.2018. Shortly after, he became the closest assistant to Arno Anthoni, who was appointed head of Valpo in March 1941. Like Kauhanen, Anthoni was pro-Nazi and anti-Semitic, as was

Toivo Horelli Toivo Johannes Horelli (11 October 1888 – 28 June 1975) was a Finnish politician of the National Coalition Party (Finland), National Coalition Party. He was a member of the Parliament of Finland in 1933–1945, and the Minister of the Interior ...

, the interior minister who acted as their supervisor. After the outbreak of the

, Kauhanen monitored the foreigners taken into custody and the refugees in the country, also conducting their interrogations. Fluent in German, Kauhanen later acted as a liaison between Valpo and the ''Kriegsorganisation Finnland'' of the German military intelligence department, making several trips to German-occupied Estonia and Latvia on Horelli's order.Silvennoinen, Oula: Salaiset aseveljet : Suomen ja Saksan turvallisuuspoliisiyhteistyö 1933–1944, s. 306, 319. Helsinki: Otava, 2008. ISBN 978-951-12150-1-1. Kauhanen also participated in the recruitment for the Finnish SS Battalion as the office manager of Insinööritoimisto Ratas, a cover organization that recruited volunteers. In the summer of 1942, Kauhanen belonged to a group that hosted

Heinrich Himmler Heinrich Luitpold Himmler (; 7 October 1900 – 23 May 1945) was a German Nazism, Nazi politician and military leader who was the 4th of the (Protection Squadron; SS), a leading member of the Nazi Party, and one of the most powerful p ...

during his visit to Finland. In 1944, Kauhanen escorted 11 deportees to Tallinn, when a Czech man reportedly died during a voyage in unclear circumstances.

After the war

Shortly after the

Moscow armistice The Moscow Armistice was signed between Finland on one side and the Soviet Union and United Kingdom on the other side on 19 September 1944, ending the Continuation War. The Armistice restored the Moscow Peace Treaty of 1940, with a number of modi ...

was concluded in September 1944, Kauhanen fled to Sweden. At the same time, fellow ValPo employees Arno Anthoni, Deputy Manager Ville Pankko, detective Arvid Ojasti and detective Erik Jaarma also fled. In February 1945, Kauhanen announced that he did not intend to return to Finland for fear of

Allied Control Commission Following the termination of hostilities in World War II, the Allies were in control of the defeated Axis countries. Anticipating the defeat of Germany, Italy and Japan, they had already set up the European Advisory Commission and a proposed Far ...

, where he was accused of several beatings during interrogations. At the end of 1944, the Polish state had proposed to the Western Allies the addition of Horelli, Anthon and Kauhanen to the list of war criminals, but for some reason, the Soviet-led Monitoring Commission did not forward the request to the Finnish authorities, and thus they were not prosecuted in the war crimes trial. Kauhanen did not receive asylum from Sweden but continued with a refugee passport issued in Stockholm to

Venezuela Venezuela, officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many Federal Dependencies of Venezuela, islands and islets in the Caribbean Sea. It com ...

, where several other Finns had also fled after the war. He is said to have earned his living by trading with Arvid Ojasti. In April 1947, Kauhanen was arrested in

Caracas Caracas ( , ), officially Santiago de León de Caracas (CCS), is the capital and largest city of Venezuela, and the center of the Metropolitan Region of Caracas (or Greater Caracas). Caracas is located along the Guaire River in the northern p ...

, the capital of Venezuela, after being identified in front of the US Consulate by Edgar Jakapi, an Estonian engineer who was interrogated by Valpo in Helsinki. The Venezuelan authorities interrogated Kauhanen, waiting for more information from Finland as to whether he was considered a war criminal. Jakapi accused Kauhanen of torture, and when information about the arrest arrived to Sweden, Expressen reported several Jewish refugees who said they were willing to testify against him for the beatings and torture during interrogations.Järkyttäviä kertomuksia Kauhasen pahoinpitelyistä. Helsingin Sanomat, 23.5.1947, s. 5. HS Aikakone (vain tilaajille) Viitattu 18.10.2018. However, Kauhanen was not handed over to Finland, but he died in unclear conditions in Venezuela in October 1949. According to a memoir received by journalist Elina Sana in 1978, an Estonian man named Pikmäk would have shot Kauhanen in Argentina or Uruguay. According to the report, Kauhanen tortured Pikmäk during Valpo's interrogations, and he took revenge. It is also possible that Jakapi shot Kauhanen after identifying him.Sana 2004, s. 243–244.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kauhanen, Aarne 1909 births 1949 deaths Antisemitism in Finland Assassinated Nazis Assassinated Finnish people Assassinated police officers Deaths by firearm in Venezuela Finnish expatriates in Sweden Finnish expatriates in Venezuela Finnish exiles Finnish Nazis Finnish people imprisoned abroad Finnish people of World War II Finnish police officers Finnish war criminals Murdered criminals Nazis in South America Prisoners and detainees of Venezuela Torturers Nazi war criminals